After nearly a week of inactivity, the Knicks finally found out on Saturday night who they will be playing in the NBA Finals, when the San Antonio Spurs knocked off the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game showdown. The Knicks now head to Texas, hoping to round up four more wins to claim the franchise’s first NBA title since 1973, as well as avenge the loss to the Spurs that happened in 1999, the last time they appeared in the Finals. The Knicks are also riding an 11-game winning streak that saw them coast through three rounds of the postseason, but do they expect the San Antonio Spurs to simply step aside and let them schedule the ticker tape parade now? Legendary New York sportscaster Warner Wolf appeared on 710 WOR’s Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte in the Morning program to discuss the possibility of the 2026 Knicks winning the brass ring.
Wolf explained why the Finals should be a much harder test for the Knicks than anything that they steamrolled in the East: “Before you automatically give the championship to the Knicks and expect more blowouts, wait a minute. The Knicks will not be playing the ill-prepared Hawks, 76ers or Cavaliers. The Spurs have the home-court advantage because they had a better season record than the Knicks- and the Spurs lost only eight home games all year [and split] the two games with the Knicks. The Spurs are 4.5-point favorites in Game One Wednesday night and one of the reasons, of course, [is] seven-foot-four, 22-year-old Victor Wembayama, who can shoot, rebound, shoot from the outside, and was named Defensive Player of the Year.”
Wolf didn’t pick a winner for the title (you’ll have to tune in next Monday morning at 7:35 to find out more), but he does think the Spurs will take the opening game, 109-108. And will the long layoff between games affect the Knicks? Wolf merely opined: “Now, if the Knicks win the championship, people will say, ‘You see, they were well-rested.’” If they lose, those same people will say, ‘They were rusty.’”
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